Housing Bills to Keep an Eye On

By Adam Adora

It’s hard to move in NYC right now. The housing crisis has been severe with New York City’s vacancy rate dropping below 2% and low income people of color continuing to feel the disproportionate negative impacts. Eviction rates have also reached post pandemic highs with 2023 bringing over 12,000 evictions. These factors combine to create a hostile housing environment where many low income NYers are at a high risk of displacement. Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A’s Preserving Affordable Housing team has worked hard to prevent displacement of tenants who are facing eviction, and newly proposed legislation may lighten the burden on many tenants and on our team. We took a look at the bills proposed at the city and state level this year aimed at helping prevent displacement and make it easier to find new housing opportunities for those who have to move. While each piece of legislation detailed below may on its own only play a small role in reshaping the housing market, these bills as a whole would benefit our clients and their communities and are worth keeping an eye on as they progress through the legislative process.

Proposed NY state bill A09871 – Requiring landlords return security deposits
Lead Sponsor: Assemblymember Yudelka Tapia
Senate Bill: S00941 (Lead Sponsor Senator Jamaal T. Bailey)

For too many renters moving to a new place, getting their security deposit back from their old landlord can be a battle. This measure aims to help tenants get their security deposit back quickly while putting a strong burden of evidence on landlords who seek to keep the deposit. A landlord seeking to keep a security deposit must, within 21 days of the end of the lease, provide a written statement describing why they are keeping the deposit, which includes an itemized list of labor and materials for repairs along with contact information for those who had performed the repair work. If a tenant agrees to the statement sent by their landlord and some of that money is deducted to cover costs, then any security deposit remainder must be promptly given to the tenant. However, if the tenant feels as though the statement is inaccurate, then the tenant has the right to challenge the statement. If the landlord is found to have kept any portion of the security deposit in violation of this bill, the landlord could be liable for three times the amount of the deposit wrongly withheld, along with any attorneys fees incurred and the last two months of rent paid by the tenant. This bill would most help tenants who are cash strapped and need their security deposits returned quickly as moving costs are expensive and the extra cash can go a long way to help.

Proposed NY State Bill A10020 – Preventing landlords from using AI to set rents
Lead Sponsor: Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal

Artificial intelligence seems to be creeping up everywhere lately, but should it be in your landlord’s office? This bill is meant to prevent the use of algorithms and AI in determining apartment pricing. The main concerns with algorithms and AI in determining apartment pricing is for these tools to be used to mine private data and to coordinate apartment prices between many competing landlords. Both of these concerns are addressed by this bill, which prevents third-party coordination between landlords and prevents the use of algorithms that use data that is not publicly available. Additionally, this bill has data privacy aspects to it and does not allow landlords to give tenants’ information to third parties for AI and algorithm-backed tenant screenings. This bill would have the potential to help many tenants and improve the fairness of the housing market. All tenants would be helped through the prevention of AI backed price gouging and the use of AI screening without tenants consent. AI screening has been shown to create inconsistent results and can lead to increased discrimination against low income tenants.

Proposed NY state bill A08967 – Preventing fees for online rent payments
Lead Sponsor: Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal
Senate Bill: S09070 (Lead Sponsor Senator Robert Jackson)

This bill’s main goal is to prevent landlords from adding fees for online rent payments. As the law is currently written, landlords are not allowed to require electronic payment for rents. The current bill proposal would not only require landlords to have alternative forms of rent payment outside of electronic payment but it would also prevent landlords from charging any type of fee for electronic payment. Bills like this one help all tenants avoid unnecessary fees but would primarily help tenants in precarious situations where they are unable to access or use online banking and the elderly who would face many difficulties with online payment systems.

Proposed New York City Bill Int. No. 608 – Requiring HPD to facilitate vacate orders
Lead Sponsor: Council Member Shekar Krishnan

Focusing on preventing displacement during repair projects, this bill would require the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to send out teams to help tenants negatively affected by vacate orders. Once a vacate order is commenced, HPD would be required to notify tenants and provide them information regarding eligibility for relocation services. HPD would also be required to ensure displaced tenants have temporary access to the vacated units and their personal effects within the unit. This bill would help to prevent long-term displacement and homelessness that is often caused by tenants not knowing their eligibility for programs to help those affected by vacate orders.

Proposed New York City Bill Int. No. Int 360 – The FARE Act
Lead Sponsor: Council Member Chi Ossé

The highly publicized Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses Act, or FARE Act, remains in committee after a highly-attended public testimony session in June. Aiming to help tenants attempting to move, this bill would require brokers fees to be paid by whoever hired the broker. According to data by Streeteasy, the average moving costs in the city is around $10,000 dollars – which is a significant financial burden for many tenants. Broker’s fees make up a large part of these expenses, often costing more than one month’s rent. For NYers who are low-income, this bill would prevent them from having to pay as much as thousands of dollars in broker fees for rent stabilized apartments and make moving much less expensive.